And if we were to say that it is created and the Meaning (al-Ma'na) is exclusive of it, we and the rest of the creation would be equal in this saying. And it is not permissible for anyone to say that that form was not in the world and was not created, and that that form was like the rest of the forms and the creation.'

He said: 'So if we answer you that that bald (al-anza'), corpulent (al-batin) form, the medium-height among men—meaning: Ali bin Abi Talib, the bald of head, the broad of the space between the eyebrows, the languid of the two eyes, the large of the base of the neck, the thick of the two forearms, the far of what is between the two shoulders [broad-shouldered], the slender of the two legs—is His form: is it Him, or is it other than Him?'"

And from it: "Do you not see that there is no one in the creation except Moses closer to Allah than him, and that he is His name, and His veil, and His self, and he is Muhammad, the establisher (al-qa'im) of every prophethood and message, just as the Eternal Meaning (al-Ma'na al-Azal) is the establisher of every legateship (wasiyyah) and Imamate.